Jodie Taylor crowned England Player of the Year at the FA Women’s Football Awards

Taylor's hat-trick against Scotland at the Euros saw her up with Sir Geoff Hurst and Gary Lineker as the only England players to net a treble at a major tournament

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Having lit up this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 with her deadly eye for goal, Jodie Taylor’s year is getting better and better.

The England striker’s five goals in the Netherlands won her the golden boot award as Mark Sampson’s Lionesses reached the semi-finals, a feat which that earned Taylor the England Player of the Year gong at Friday’s FA Women’s Football Awards, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London.

The 31-year-old from Birkenhead is enjoying a fruitful spell after being restored to the national team, and her hat-trick against Scotland at the Euros saw her up with Sir Geoff Hurst and Gary Lineker as the only England players to net a treble at a major tournament.

Taylor will lead the Arsenal line during the upcoming FA Women’s Super League 1 season, and she was quick to heap praise on her team-mates for club and country as the reason for her excellent form.

“It’s pretty incredible – I’m ecstatic and shocked,” said Taylor. “I wasn’t really expecting it to be honest - all the others deserve it as much as me.

“But obviously it’s a great achievement, an honour and a privilege to win the award. It’s pretty cool.

“It was awesome to be part of that environment [in the Netherlands]. To be a part of the national team is great, from a football perspective and the environment surrounding it.

“It’s an environment you can thrive in and I feel like I’ve thrived in it.

“I love my team mates, I feel like I have been successful because of them playing well – they put the ball in the right areas and make everything so easy for me. I love the girls so much.”

The FA Women’s Football Awards celebrated an exciting year for women’s football and recognised the achievements of clubs, players, staff and the excellent work done at the grassroots level of the game.

The awards also highlighted the success of The FA’s Gameplan for Growth, launched earlier in 2017, which aims to double participation and the fanbase of the women’s game by 2020 and create sustained success at elite international level.

Taylor joined Arsenal in 2016 after a two-year spell in the United States, during which time she played for Washington Spirit and Portland Thorns.

And despite her European commitments resulting in her having a shorter summer break than most, Taylor is itching to get back on the pitch in the red of Arsenal and do what she does best.

“Pre-season has been going really well,” she said. “We had a couple of weeks off after the Euros to get over not winning it.

“Getting back into pre-season has been tough. But we’ve had some great friendlies, we’ve been doing well and starting to gel as a team.

“We’re in an even better place than we were in the Spring Series, which is exciting. I’m really looking forward to getting going.”

For more information and to see all the award winners visitwww.thefa.com/forgirlsJoin the conversation online using the hashtag #FAWomensAwards.

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